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Siemens Drives, Motors Breathe New Life into Aging Extrusion Lines

Production boost of 20% reported by Amgraph on food packages

At 30 years old and approximately 75-feet long, the Black-Clawson two station Extrusion Laminator dominates Amgraph’s (Versaille, Conn.) production floor like a dinosaur lining up at a bone yard. As customer requirements surpassed the capabilities of this aging behemoth, Amgraph, which supplies flexible packaging solutions for the food industry, had several choices. It could spend millions on a new machine, settle for lower productivity and product diversity or retrofit the equipment for the 21st century. Instead of scrapping their investment and spending millions on new machines to meet new product, productivity, and customer requirements, Amgraph’s Senior Management decided to prepare their equipment for the needs of tomorrow by upgrading the analog control system to high-efficiency Siemens motors, Sinamics S120 digital drives and newer control systems.

As a result of the retrofit, Amgraph can now produce a wider variety of coated plastic and foil flexible food packages, cut material expenditures and improve throughput, while boosting productivity.

Improved Web Tension

Siemens Solutions Partner, Circonix, located in Ringwood, N.J., knew that by upgrading the machine’s analog drives and discrete controls to the latest Siemens motors and Sinamics S120 digital drives, Amgraph could accommodate new materials, manufacture packages with thicker coatings, achieve uptime of 95 percent or better, and increase throughput by 20 percent or more.

“Initially, the machine had four different motors with analog drives and controls, each with their own wiring harness and relay logic, which really made the machines a challenge to maintain,” explained Circonix Vice President of Engineering Andrew Alaya. “Only one of the sections was capable of tension control, which forced Amgraph to operate the extrusion machine in draw mode. This meant that the machine could only handle certain types of coatings without breaking the web and going down. Improving that uptime through better tension control was the main goal of the project.”

Circonix engineers decided to retrofit the Extruder’s four existing analog drives with Siemens motors and Sinamics S120 drives, while adding four load cells inline, and a new Fulton Machinery dancer to the machine’s two unwind spindles.  Also, two Vetaphone treaters were added inline as part of the retrofit.  These effectively eliminated the need for the primer coater, and served as pull stations for the machine, which were driven by Siemens motors and drives. These modifications allowed the machine to work in closed-loop tension control mode. By changing values on the HMI and PLC, Amgraph’s Production Manager, David Rand, could now precisely control the speed and thickness of the web, turn various systems such as treaters, laminators, and tension control systems on or off, and apply either thinner coatings to package materials without worrying about additional web breaks and downtime, or thicker coatings to meet special customer needs.

“Now that we have more control of the system, we’re looking at replacing thicker films that we used to purchase from other vendors with extruded materials we make ourselves, which saves us money,” says Amgraph’s Rand. “Our initial trials have been successful.”

The new motors, upgraded digital drives and new controls also increased the extrusion machine’s uptime, throughput and productivity.  The high bandwidth of the Sinamics S120 digital drives allows for improved speed regulation and  faster response, both of which are key to improving tension control.  Amgraph set aggressive goals of 95 percent uptime for the retrofitted extrusion machine. “We’ve had some success since the machine was installed in January,” says Amgraph’s Rand. “We spent a few months fine-tuning operations, [but] recently, we’re starting to see [uptime] benefits. We should have some firm numbers in the next few months.”

In addition to increasing uptime and the number of products the machine can handle, Rand says the retrofit has increased throughput by up to 20 percent, depending on the product line. “We’ve definitely increased production speeds,” he said. “We’re happy where we are now, but we still have opportunities to improve throughput.”

On time, Within Budget

Retrofitting large production machinery like Amgraph’s Black-Clawson extrusion laminator machine rarely comes in as scheduled because changing a machine from discrete analog to digital control systems with the latest energy-saving AC induction motors presents significant electronic and mechanical engineering challenges.

Customers may also want to use specific equipment providers for certain systems. In this case, Amgraph was familiar with third-party HMI and PLC technology, which meant Circonix needed to interface the Sinamics S120 drives with third-party systems. However, thanks to Circonix’s close partnership with Siemens as an official Siemens Solutions Provider, Siemens’ STARTER drive engineering/commissioning software and the easy integration of the Sinamics S120 drives using the electronic name plate capabilities of Drive-Cliq for the motors and drive components, the project was delivered to Amgraph on time and within budget.

“We used Profibus to tie the drives together and an SST module in the PLC to talk to the Siemens drives,” Alaya explains. “It was easy to meet Amgraph’s development schedule. With Siemens DC bus line up, all the drives fit in a single cabinet that was smaller than the space of one of the previous motor control systems. We were able to eliminate the wiring mess and relay logic that came with the older analog controls, which significantly simplified maintenance and troubleshooting for the customer while improving performance and uptime.”

Circonix started engineering development for the system in July of 2008, and just six months later, installed and commissioned the retrofits.

“We gave them a pretty intense schedule,” says Amgraph’s Rand. “What’s remarkable about this project is that it was done on-time. We have some machines that came in before we did this project and they’re still not up and running.”

For specific product information and inquiries, call (800) 879-8079 ext. Marketing Communications or send an e-mail to: SiemensMTBUMarCom.industry@siemens.com.

Do You Leave Your Presentations Unattended?

I had a speaking engagement today where I spoke about Social Media to a Human Resource association.  I was discussing how Twitter, blogging and YouTube work best when they go hand-in-hand with each other.  This topic came up here at work recently and this is how I put it into perspective:

When you develop a great video presentation and bring it to a trade-show or conference, you don’t just set it up on a table and leave it playing in a loop all by itself.  You don’t just start the presentation and leave it unattended do you?  Instead, you are there ready to greet people who show any interest in the presentation you are running.  You are there to answer questions, make conversation and interact with others. As we all know, this is called networking.  Likewise social media, when used correctly establishes this same type of interaction.  Videos on YouTube need to be associated with a website, or a blog where someone interested can go and interact and ask questions.  Once a connection is made and a conversation is started, it is just like you are standing together at the  trade-show, or in the conference room.  Here, in the discussion that evolves, whether it be virtual or in person, you will decide whether continuing a business relationship or not is in your best interest.  So in both scenarios (virtual or in person) the same objective is being met.

Likewise, it’s important that once you post something on YouTube you have methods in place to draw traffic to the video.  This is where your website, Facebook, Twitter and blog will play their part in this dance of getting your online presence noticed.  Social Media needs to work together and be in harmony with each other.  Working together is the key to the success of your social media campaign as well as your overall marketing plan.

We have a client who posts videos on YouTube, at the end of their Print Ads in the trade magazines we print: “see our videos on YouTube”… how is that for the evolution of the ad/PR world?  We now have our traditional print ads referring potential clients (and anyone else who is interested) to our client’s online presence.  At least for right now, it seems you can’t effectively have one without the other.

-Wendy

If You Build it, They will Come…

I have seen many businesses that looked at social media as a passing phase… at least they were crossing their fingers and hoping it was.  Others felt it wasn’t relevant to their type of business.  This way of thinking has led to them simply “dabbling” in social media.  Ultimately, they end up neglecting it and concluding “it doesn’t work”.  When a business chooses to simply dabble or chooses to outsource social media negative results are almost always a certainty.

It is very common for us to hear “My son (or daughter) set up our Facebook page (twitter account, blog etc) but nothing ever came of it.”  You cannot have an “if you build it, they will come” mentality when it comes to social media.

Your online presence needs to be built, given life and then it needs to be nurtured so it stays alive and grows bigger and stronger.

When a business jumps on the social media bandwagon they need to really wrap their minds around what that means and all that this new endeavor entails.  It is not as quick and easy as jumping on Twitter or posting a blog once in a while.  It’s not about someone who already has a full time job at your company spending a few minutes each week, “checking things out“.   Here is the truth about social media: the beginning, the setting it up is actually the least time consuming and the easiest part.  Why?  because no one has found you yet and no one has started to communicate and interact with you yet.   You are also not developing content, researching what’s being said and what are good, relevant things for you to be talking about.  Getting content out into the world takes time.  What are people interested in and talking about?  How do you or your clients contribute to that conversation?  This is not about selling products it is about participating in a conversation so you become the “go to” person for information and guidance in the world that your business is part of.  I hear people say all the time, “what’s the big deal?  I’ll just throw some things up on twitter once in a while and blog once in a while.” Sure, that is great if you want to use social media as an outlet for your daily ponderings… but if you want to get paying clients out of it, it’s a whole different ball-game.

So, assuming you are going to get with the social media game here are somethings to consider.  This is a full-time commitment, it is your choice to spread it out over a few people who each work on it a little each day or each week or assign one person this task as their full-time job.   If you choose the route of using multiple people, be sure they are  communicating with each other or have a schedule.  The last thing you want is for everything to go unattended because everyone though someone else was doing it.  Regardless of whether you have one person or a team here is a little help to guide you in choosing the individuals for the job:

• Make sure they have a good grasp on social media and how the internet works
• Make sure they know your products and services as well as your client’s products and services if you are mainly B2B.
• Make sure they know you products and your consumers needs and lifestyle (outside your product).  For example if you are a store that sells Kayaks don’t just blog or tweet about your products, blog and tweet about what your customers are interested in.  For example, blog and tweet about great Kayaking vacation spots.  Expand your blogs and tweets outside your world, but within the world of your customers interests and your knowledge base.
• Be sure they know how to write!
• They also need to be good at dialog.  Social Media is not about putting information out into the world, it is about establishing relationships and starting conversations.  When you put something out there and someone comments on it, that is an opportunity for connection and to open a dialog.
• Be sure they are passionate about what they do.

In the PR/ad world,  we need to maintain this knowledge for our business to grow, but we also need to be a source and knowledge base for our clients so they can to look to us for expertise and guidance.  How do we do this?  We need to know about, speak about and write about anything and everything that is relevant to our world as well as theirs.  We also need to know where our clients need to have a presence in order for social media to work for them.  They look to us for knowledge and guidance and as their ad/PR agency; we better know what we are talking about.

Right now, the topic that is being thrown around by our clients in the Industrial world is “pull all of our ads in the trade magazines and focus all on the internet”, or “forget the internet we’ve done just fine with the trade magazines”.  We strongly recommend a balance of the two… but that’s a blog for another day.

-Wendy

Prototype Shop Gets 20% Faster Set-up and Running Times With New CNC Turning Machine

Fryer Easy Turn Combination Lathe with Siemens SINUMERIK 840D sl CNC lets operators at Continental Machine program, set-up and run faster; critical for one-off operations

By definition, says Josh Johnson, vice-president, Continental Machine, Rockford, Illinois, his prototype and short-run production shop must constantly run lean.  There can be no tolerating excessive programming, set-up or machining time of any kind, otherwise the shop loses and, in this economy, Johnson notes, that is simply unacceptable.

Continental Machine is a seven-person, 13,000 square-foot facility that houses a variety of CNC milling, turning, wire EDM, hole popping and grinding machines, as well as various sheetmetal and plastic injection molding machinery.  Therefore, the shop is well positioned to produce a wide variety of metal and plastic prototypes used by its diverse customer base, which spans markets such as window hardware, bicycle components, automotive parts, chemical processing, medical devices and foodservice equipment.  Materials processed here are just as wide-ranging, including aluminum, CRS, tool steels such as A2 and D2, zinc, brass, copper, bronze, titanium and a variety of engineered plastics such as glass-filled Delrin.

Recently, this job shop purchased a Fryer Easy Turn-21 CNC Combination Lathe, controlled by a Siemens SINUMERIK 840D sl numerical control.  The two operators responsible for this machine upgrade at Continental had limited experience with CNC and none whatsoever with the Siemens protocol, as this was the first of its kind at the shop.

The Easy Turn-21 was particularly appealing to Josh Johnson, who comments, “The set-up is extremely easy.  Teaching the tools, altering the lengths and diameters is kept very simple.  After the initial learning curve, which took only a few days, the operators picked up on the conversational programming, right away.  Also, one of the best features on the machine was that you could still turn the parts by using the electronic handwheel and just one function, such as hogging off material automatically or putting on a tapered thread.”  He noted this feature was not only more comfortable for the operators, but it also allowed them to quickly and efficiently prove out part programs.  Johnson commented that this would not have been possible on previous machines, owing to the flexibility of the control onboard the Fryer.  The result has been a minimum 20% improvement in the overall cycle time on most part programs run at Continental.  For this primarily prototype job shop, that fact translates into a substantial increase in the work product possible here.

Echoing this sentiment, Sue Ostrander, sales manager, Fryer Machine Systems, explained the process that led her company to select the SINUMERIK 840D sl numerical control for all its milling and turning machines, a move that was recently formalized by the company and announced to the trade.

“Since its inception 26 years ago, family-owned Fryer Machine Systems has based its operation on three core principles: build a quality product, price it fairly and provide quality service. This philosophy has allowed Fryer’s business to grow even in challenging times,” she said.

Fryer manufactures a diverse line of over 50 models of high-quality CNC machine tools in its 50,000 square-foot facility in Patterson, New York. Over the years, Fryer has become well-respected for its quality and innovation, throughout the job shop and production machining market segments.

“Moving to the Siemens 840D sl platform was the next step in Fryer’s ongoing commitment to provide our customers with the most innovative machine tools available in the market today,” Ostrander continued.  “The Siemens solution allows machine tool end-users to achieve higher productivity through easy and intuitive features and step-by-step, on-screen programming.  This enables them to dramatically reduce set-up, programming, and tooling times, while significantly increasing output.”

“The SINUMERIK 840D sl modular design allows us to take full advantage of the superior mechanical features in our machines,” continued Larry Fryer, president and CEO, Fryer Machine Systems. “Fryer has always been known for our easy conversational controls and the move to Siemens has allowed us to greatly enhance this feature,” Fryer noted. “The 840D sl menu-driven system combines an advanced geometry calculator that displays the part while the operator is programming it.  Sophisticated solid model graphics allow the operator to verify the part program with more clarity than ever before,” he said.

Larry Fryer has also been impressed with the automatic tool set-up and easy part set-up, made possible by the Siemens CNC.  Fryer explained that auto-run mode is where many operators experience difficulty.  Siemens and Fryer Machine Systems worked together to create an electronic handwheel run mode that gives the operator a safer way to prove out program execution, both forward and backward, using a standard electronic handwheel.

Fryer further stated, “Siemens provides us with a highly flexible solution that is critical to our ability to meet the specific needs of each customer.  Our enhanced capability to offer the same control for both turning and milling gives Fryer machines a unified platform that is very important to customers both in the short-term and for long range expansion.  Coupled with Siemens quality and reliability, they are invaluable to us in competing in today’s aggressive marketplace.”

Johnson added this comment on the service and training received by his operators at Continental.  “Siemens has been helpful and very thorough in their training and after-sale service.  The ShopTurn program, being integral to the control, now enables us to accurately determine tool path, potential collisions, tool changes and real world run time.  This makes our operators’ jobs much easier, with the added benefit of allowing us to estimate much more accurately than ever.”  Johnson further noted the CNC has substantial hard drive space, thus allowing most programs to be stored directly on the machine, though the company does maintain a back-up system.

For more information on this story, please contact:

CONTINENTAL MACHINE CO. 
Email:  conmach@onecommail.com

FRYER MACHINE SYSTEMS, INC. 
Web:  www.fryermachine.com

SIEMENS MACHINE TOOL BUSINESS
John Meyer
Manager, Marketing Communications
Siemens Industry, Inc.
(847) 640-1595
www.usa.siemens.com/cnc
SiemensMTBUMarCom.industry@siemens.com
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/SiemensCNC or Twitter:  www.twitter.com/siemens_cnc_us.

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Siemens Industry Sector is the world’s leading supplier of innovative and environmentally friendly products, solutions and services for industrial customers. With end-to-end automation technology and industrial software, solid vertical-market expertise, and technology-based services, the sector enhances its customers’ productivity, efficiency and flexibility. With a global workforce of more than 100,000 employees, the Industry Sector comprises the Industry Automation, Drive Technologies and Customer Services Divisions as well as the Metals Technologies Business Unit. For more information, visit http://www.usa.siemens.com/industry.

The Siemens Drive Technologies Division is the world’s leading supplier of products, systems, applications, solutions and services for the entire drive train, with electrical and mechanical components. Drive Technologies serves all vertical markets in the production and process industries as well as the infrastructure/energy segment. With its products and solutions, the division enables its customers to achieve productivity, energy efficiency and reliability. For more information, visit http://www.usa.siemens.com/drivetechnologies.

Back to Marketing 101

In this struggling economy, we have clients who’ve actually gone back to Marketing 101 and decided that tough times require more aggressive presence in the market.

Old customers and prospective new ones are being courted more often, both in print ads, direct mail (making a nice comeback as it’s now unique!) and online via blast email, regular newsletters and the inexpensive if rather impersonal vid conference.
The impact of such activity has had the collateral if unintended consequence of making our agency quite busy, this year.  So thanks for that, clients!

Much more important is the fundamental tenet of marketing being applied here.  They can’t buy from you if they don’t know you’re on the planet, to be blunt.

And, whether they’re currently buying or not, the ones who’ll stay in business are the targets of our messages for clients.

Having lived through four major recessions in business in my time, the theory has been proven true, time and again.  Namely, companies who continue to maintain a presence in their market, by whatever means, come back faster and stronger than those who don’t.  This is a fact and we have the evidence to prove it, for anyone interested.
TD

Enclosures Protecting Standby Power Generating Stations At Michigan Milk Producers Association

Hennig custom enclosures on generators provided through W.W. Williams to huge dairy products processing plant in Michigan.

Machesney Park, IL-On a recent installation at the Ovid, Michigan processing plant of the Michigan Milk Producers Association (MMPA), the standby power generation system supplier, W.W. Williams (WWW) of Dearborn, Michigan, required an increased level of sound and environmental protection on the three generating stations, in accordance with the specs received from their customer’s architectural firm.  They turned to their enclosure suppliers for assistance, as the challenges were many.  For the complete package, the project was awarded to Hennig.  As WWW’s Brunswick, Ohio-based project manager on the job, Al LaManna, puts it, “We’d begun to see Hennig as our go-to guys on enclosures, owing to the continued satisfaction we’d experienced with their levels of quality, engineering and especially responsive service.”

The Ovid facility of MMPA processes over three million pounds of milk per day, specializing in the production of liquid dairy blends, dry powders and bulk butter.  These dairy ingredients are offered in spray-dried, liquid, condensed and instantized forms.  Fluid products are typically loaded for bulk tanker or 55-gallon drum delivery, while powders are packed in 50 lb. bags, 25 kg bags or one-ton totes.  Butter is produced in 25 kg cubes.  Such production processes place substantial load on the local utility company’s power generation system and also create ambient dust contaminant challenges for the plant’s equipment.

During the construction process on the three enclosures needed for the standby power generators, extra attention was given to the insulation, silencers and electrical controls for the unit, to ensure proper functioning, sound attenuation and minimized environmental impact.  These enclosures and fuel tank assemblies further required additional features, as mandated by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, including overflow protection valves with a spill box for fuel containment on the remote filling apparatus, fill panel alarm system with level switch, extended vents above the roof line, a special mastic coating on the bottom of the fuel tank and stainless steel fuel supply and return lines.

Following the submission of the complete specification and winning the job, Hennig engineers Christian Grobe and Robin Moore, as well as sales rep Matt Sopchyk, led the team that produced the enclosures at the company’s manufacturing/fabricating facility in Rockford, Illinois.  Al LaManna had occasion to visit the plant during the construction and was impressed by the efficiency of the vertical integration.  Hennig performs all metal fabrication, finishing and the rigorous testing to UL standards in-house.  “Even a midstream specification change by our customer was handled at Hennig with no upset in the production schedule,” notes LaManna.

Founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1912, W.W. Williams has evolved from one of the nation’s largest industrial distribution, repair and service companies to a highly diversified solutions provider.  They provide solutions to customers with technical / mechanical service and repair, remanufacturing, warehouse / supply chain management and service a varied customer base. Their products and services include diesel engines, transmissions, heavy duty truck repair, refrigeration, power generation and third party supply chain logistics services. Their customers comprise on-highway trucking, off-highway equipment, Department of Defense OEM’s, vehicle OEM’s, U.S. Military and marine enterprises.  The company represents the MTU Onsite Energy group and specializes in gas and diesel engine systems, fuel cell systems, gas turbine systems and gen-drive engines, to provide primary, standby and continuous power.

As Territory Manager for the company, Todd James Rundhaug, observes, “We are constantly looking for quality component suppliers to complement our MTU Onsite Energy power generating equipment.  We began our relationship with Hennig in 2008 and have been extremely satisfied with the quality, workmanship, delivery and especially the after-sales sales support on their enclosures and fuel tanks.  Due to a variety of factors, our types of equipment require highly specialized enclosures and UL Rated fuel tanks.  The total service package from Hennig on these products has been excellent.”  LaManna agrees, noting his customers’ repeat satisfaction with the full package supplied by Hennig.  On this Michigan Milk Producers job, Hennig supplied the enclosures, each equipped with a heater, overhead lights, powered louvers, battery back-up lighting with NiCad battery power and GFI wall outlets.

Point man on the job for Hennig Enclosure Systems was Matt Sopchyk, who noted there were three enclosures needed for the onsite generators on this project.  Each generator is a 2000 KW unit, with a sub-base fuel tank holding 3480 gallons of diesel.  “Hennig design standards for this application included our complete in-house powder coating process for the enclosure walls, doors and roof sections over the all galvanealled steel construction. This job was finished in MTU gray, matching their gensets.”

The UL142 approved steel fuel tanks are finished with a phosphoric pretreatment high-pressure wash and then a 2-step polyurethane process. Hennig enclosures are of a semi-monocoque design, meaning the structural integrity and inner strength are engineered and built into every panel and roof section. This allows for clean and functional design, without the need for separate framing or additional substrate supports of any kind.  Also, the Hennig fuel tanks are engineered and built in a similar way, with full interior baffling and sub-structure integrity to support the genset without the need for surface mounted I-beams to support the genset or the need for an additional, costly raised floor above the tank top. The tank top is the floor within the genset.

To learn more about Hennig products & services, visit www.hennigworldwide.com or call contact:

Tim Waterman
Hennig Inc.
9900 N. Alpine Rd.
Machesney Park, IL 61115
(815) 316-5277
info@hennig.ame.com
www.hennigworldwide.com

Connect with Hennig online:       

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Hennig, Inc., at www.hennigworldwide.com, has been designing and producing custom machine protection and chip/coolant management products for state-of-the-art machine tools for over 50 years. Hennig products are designed to protect against corrosion, debris and common workplace contaminants. Hennig has manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Germany, Czech Republic, France, Brazil, India, Japan, China and South Korea. Its North American repair centers are located in Machesney Park, Ill.; Chandler, Okla.; Livonia, Mich.; Blue Ash, Ohio; Mexico City, Mexico; and Saltillo, Mexico.

83% Increase in Machining Efficiency on Oil Valves Reported

Kimray, Inc., an Oklahoma City-based manufacturer of control valves and related equipment for oil and gas producing companies, reports an 83% increase in their machining efficiency, achieved largely as the result of recently acquired CNC production equipment.

Founded in 1948 by Garman Kimmell, Kimray operates a 274,000 sq. ft. facility and employs over 400 people to serve its expanding customer base of oil and gas producing companies.  Kimray machines iron, steel and aluminum, as well as thermoplastic materials, to build its comprehensive line of control valves, thermostats, energy-exchange glycol pumps, gas-operated pilots and other process control devices.  Their products are used to control vessel and lead line temperatures, liquid level inside pressurized vessels, pressure drops and liquid/gas flow.

The company maintains a turnkey manufacturing facility, including dozens of lathes, grinders, turning, milling, sawing and bore finishing/honing machine tools, nearly all with CNC systems onboard. Originally, two machines were purchased, an Emco Maier EMCOTURN 420 MC PLUS and HYPERTURN 665 MC PLUS Lathes, each equipped with Siemens SINUMERIK 840D CNCs and SIMODRIVE 611D drive packages. As their productivity greatly increased, Kimray decided to purchase two more Emco Maier machines to keep up with increased demand for their products.

The company operates a host system for file storage and back-up on all part production data.  As one operator of these lathes observed, “I liked the Fanuc 18i-T CNC we used on other machines in the shop, but, with the SINUMERIK 840D, you can do so much more, such as instant programming and cut and paste operations, while the machine is running or stopped.  Each screen allows you to be very detailed about what you’re doing, such as separating your mains from your subs with your part and workpiece programs.  I use the Siemens CNC for axis and spindle movements on both machines (Emco Maier 420 Dual Main and Counter spindle Machine and the 665 Main and Counter Spindle Machine). My programs and data can be recessed easily and transferred back to the machines (from the company’s main host system), as needed.  I can run my programs out of workpieces and sub-spindles, including milling and stenciling out of the sub-programs.  I use the parts program as my way to transfer files and folders to the main system and back again.”

He further commented on the controls, “On a typical set-up, I like the sensitivity of the CNC.  Being able to move the axis only a ten thousandth at a time to a hundred thousandth at a time comes in very handy for me.  I also like the program test feature, especially on new programs.  Each tool has its own geometry page and up to four offsets, making things much less complicated.”

Lastly, regarding the machine builder, this operator noted, “I received lots of good advice and training from the folks at Emco Maier, especially Doug Poling.  He’s also assisted me a few times by phone, when needed.”

In the manufacture of its oil and gas production controls, Kimray typically machines bar stock of 303, 304, 310, 316 and 17-4 stainless, as well as D-2 tool steel, 6061-T6 aluminum, brass, Delrin and Teflon.  Cast iron, ductile, steel, stainless and aluminum are also machined here. The 83% increase in machining efficiency has been achieved, due to these four Emco Maier machines with Siemens CNCs, according to Kimray sources and company production data.

In determining the increase in overall machining efficiency at Kimray, VP of Operations David Hill commented, “Our commitment to run CNC machine tools has long been in place and the addition of the Emco Maier lathes with Siemens controls onboard are the latest steps in this process.  We’ve literally had no problems with these machines, the CNC’s or the drives.  When Kimray operators can keep running and producing parts in such a way, the impact on our overall efficiency is immediate and substantial.”

Mike Morris, Kimray’s Plant Engineer, added that “the control is strong and easy for the operators to use”.  Over the years, the CNCs have been virtually bulletproof.”

From the builder’s perspective, Emco Maier shares Kimray’s appreciation for the performance of its CNC/drive package supplier.

“Our 420 machine enables simultaneous production of two parts without interruption or collision.  The digital drives (Siemens SIMODRIVE 611D) produce dynamic performance in both the main spindle and X/Z axes,” commented the company’s Director of Sales Support Operations for Emco Maier USA.  “Plus, programming is just the same as on any CNC lathe.  Only one program is generated.  The program for the second workpiece is simply transferred to the bottom system by means of a selector switch.  No additional programming is necessary.  As we like to say, twice as nice.”

The 665 Hyperturn machine enables true 4-axis machining plus full c-axis capability on both the main and counter spindles.  The 665 uses some of the same programming features, plus the same digital drive system as the 420, but in a larger package.

For more information on this story, please contact any of the following individuals:

KIMRAY, INC. 
Web: www.kimray.com Email: info@kimray.com

EMCO MAIER CORP.
Web: www.emcomaier-usa.com

SIEMENS MACHINE TOOL BUSINESS
John Meyer
Manager, Marketing Communications
Siemens Industry, Inc.
(847) 640-1595
www.usa.siemens.com/cnc
SiemensMTBUMarCom.industry@siemens.com
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/SiemensCNC or Twitter:  www.twitter.com/siemens_cnc_us.

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Siemens Industry Sector is the world’s leading supplier of innovative and environmentally friendly products, solutions and services for industrial customers. With end-to-end automation technology and industrial software, solid vertical-market expertise, and technology-based services, the sector enhances its customers’ productivity, efficiency and flexibility. With a global workforce of more than 100,000 employees, the Industry Sector comprises the Industry Automation, Drive Technologies and Customer Services Divisions as well as the Metals Technologies Business Unit. For more information, visit http://www.usa.siemens.com/industry.

The Siemens Drive Technologies Division is the world’s leading supplier of products, systems, applications, solutions and services for the entire drive train, with electrical and mechanical components. Drive Technologies serves all vertical markets in the production and process industries as well as the infrastructure/energy segment. With its products and solutions, the division enables its customers to achieve productivity, energy efficiency and reliability. For more information, visit http://www.usa.siemens.com/drivetechnologies.

Social Media… Productive & Profitable Playing…

Several clients have appointed designated hitters for the internet blogs and especially the engineering chat areas of publication websites.

We applaud this action, especially in this economy.

One client said to me, during a meeting where I was encouraging this tactic, “Tim, how can I take a very busy engineer or sales guy away from customers and quoting to play on the internet?”

After I calmed down, I explained to him that:

• It’s not play, especially when problem solving is involved.
• It’s not play, when relationships are being formed with potential customers, even those, scratch that, especially those who don’t know your company.
• It’s not play, when a member of your team is quickly perceived as a go-to guy online by key players in your market and among your peers.
• Even if it IS play, it’s productive play.  Didn’t your mother teach you the value of THAT??

Seriously, since very little is new under the sun, this is just the new version of that longtime and revered guy at every company, the one people flocked to see at trade shows.

Two quick examples:

We had a client (sadly passed away) who invented polymer quenchants for commercial heat treating.  This ancient industry used water and oil, mostly, as it had for literally centuries.  People would come to the trade shows and actually wait in line to see the guy.  Then, with almost papal severity, he would lean into them, listen to their quenching problem, ponder it for a moment and then put his finger in their chest and say, “OK, here’s what you do…”

We have a current client who runs what is arguably the finest gear company on the planet.  He’s also a world-class fly fisherman.  He stands in the aisles and goes “casting for customers,” as he says.  When he arrives at a show or conference, you’d think Ghandi had walked into the room…with Mother Teresa on his arm!  Talk about drawing a crowd.  His theory evokes the old John Kennedy line that a rising tide lifts all boats.  He actually shows customers, prospects AND his competitors his operation and his p&l.  His company currently exports high-precision gears worldwide, including to China!

The internet guru at your company can be a powerful force for growth and a true agent of change for your business and the industry as a whole.  Don’t overlook the possibilities or think that it’s just playtime!  When a “social” network has a tangible business upside, that’s a game we’d all like to join!
TD

New Waterjet Deburring/Cleaning/Rust Inhibiting System Saves Space and Capital

Bertsche iJet waterjet deburring system built for Linamar combines waterjet deburring with part cleaning for one inline system.

Canadian automotive part supplier realizes significant gains with Bertsche-designed multi-function system in its plant

With factory floor space at a premium and capital equipment funds scarce, Linamar, a Tier One Canadian automotive part supplier, turned to Bertsche Engineering recently for an all-in-one part deburring, final rinse and drying solution.

Typically, complex machined automotive parts with multiple intersecting holes require feature-specific part deburring to insure that parts are burr-free.  After deburring, parts also need a final cleaning/washing to insure removal of microscopic particles that might adversely affect performance. They are then preserved with a rust or oxidation inhibitor and dried for shipment (transport) to be assembled. Usually, this involves separate pieces of equipment linked by conveyors or robots to transport parts to each machine.

To solve the problem of densely filled factory floor space, Bertsche Engineering developed a machine that handles all these processes in one machine, in one deburring cycle.  The machine takes oil and chip contaminated parts, previously machined on CNC milling centers and mill/turn machines, then selectively deburrs critical features using high pressure water, blasting chips out of internal cavities, knocking off all feather-edge burrs and fan washing the outside of the part, using a CNC for full cycle control.

Close-up shows parts infeed and outfeed station, where considerable space savings were realized by the customer, Linamar, a major Canadian Tier One automotive parts supplier.

This process is accomplished by a series of rotating lance nozzles that probe small diameter internal holes in order to blast feather edge burrs clean at intersection points and wash chips out of dead-end passages.  External features are then blasted with a series of direct nozzles that release up to 10,000 psi of water at the burr while tracing the part edges. The part is then washed with high-pressure rotating fan nozzles.  Note: When required, additional mechanical wire and filament brush tooled deburring stations can be incorporated into the Bertsche system to mechanically remove burrs.

The same machine moves the deburred part to an agitated wash and rinse station, where the part is rinsed, cleaned and preserved with an aqueous rust inhibitor (providing up to 24-day protection) and is finally dried. The part is then ready for final assembly.

Close-up shows parts being indexed over high-pressure (10,000 psi) waterjet nozzles for full wash cycle and rust-inhibiting aqueous coating process

For more information on this application, please contact:

BERTSCHE ENGINEERING CORPORATION www.bertsche.com

PR agency contact: Tim Daro Bernard & Company  www.bernardandcompany.com

Release:  BERTSCHE ENGINEERING CORPORATION

Date:  December 28, 2009

Honing a Competitive Advantage: Sunnen’s Growth Rises from Innovative Motion Control Ideas from Siemens

Using market insight coupled with new technology, Sunnen has been able to grow in a downward economy. The company expanded its platform of high production, high precision bore sizing and finishing systems to include maintenance and repair operations honing. The deeper secret to this 85-year-old OEM’s success is its ability to adopt simpler, yet more advanced and cost-effective motion control.

Problem and Opportunity

It was an evolutionary decision, says Carl Mik, Product Design Engineer. Traditionally, the company’s bore sizing and finishing systems have been customized, high-end designs. Having identified a new market segment opportunity, the immediate problem was system cost versus the market’s willingness to pay. But the larger and longer-term problem was how to evolve the company’s technology platform while maintaining its competitive advantages in systems design, manufacturing and service efficiency.

“When we went into this, the costs were not in line with the envisioned spec,” Mik recalls. “The stroker would be an AC motor and the spindle would be an AC motor. We wanted some sort of encoder on the AC motor for the stroker to hold relative position; and then we wanted a touch screen display. The costs were becoming prohibitive.”

An early breakthrough came when Sunnen learned that Siemens could offer a basic performance servomotor with resolver feedback for the price of an AC motor. But Sunnen still faced the challenge of developing an all-new system design for low-cost honing that would be consistent with the company’s established product platform, supported by the multi-axis high-performance Sinamics S120 drive line and Simatic automation platform from Siemens.

This need for platform consistency is an industry-wide challenge, as OEMs and their end-customers evaluate the cost-performance advantages of emerging motion control solutions versus traditional hydraulic, mechanical and electro-mechanical machine system designs. For Sunnen, this evaluation has been facilitated by Siemens mutual interest in the possibilities of new servo-based systems design.

Synchronized Innovation

“I have been on the motion control side from the beginning,” says Product Engineer Mike Nikrant. “Back in 2002-2003, we did a lot of research on different communication bus structures and what people had to offer. We chose Profibus because of component availability and cost, along with its high acceptance in the market. Then we began using Siemens drives because they were the most flexible and configurable. We went with them on our KGM product line, which required extreme accuracy for all axes of motion when finishing cylinders. Then, we used a lot of the same components when we introduced our SV vertical honing machines.”

Sunnen’s product platform evolution soon fell into step with the evolution of the Siemens drives technology platform, Nikrant recalls.

“When we first started the SV vertical honing line, we were attempting to use ball screws. At the time there was only one company that had a motor that could handle the load we were doing, because of the reciprocation. Then Siemens designed a motor that fit our application requirements and assisted us in our initial synchronization and tuning. We established a common DC bus drive structure with the Siemens drive platform, which made it possible to have all the same drives in the system for servo or vector applications. It is a very clean and proficient design because there are no mixes and matches of drive types. Everything just flowed a lot better with that solution and our customers like this common approach and service efficiency.”

Advanced Yet Simple Positioning

As Sunnen’s attention moved last year to the development of a basic large bore horizontal honing system called the HTA, both Nikrant and Mik were on the same page regarding product platform evolution. Joining them were other engineering team members, including Russ Jacobsmeyer, the company’s chief technology officer, who oversees technology adoption in support of the company’s global growth.

According to Jacobsmeyer, Siemens brings a global support capability that is becoming increasingly important to Sunnen’s growth strategy. He says the relationship is based on more than just meeting a spec. It is based on system performance exploration. “One reason why we like working with Siemens,” Jacobsmeyer adds, “is we have built a partnership with them and they understand what is required of our products. They can make suggestions in an intelligent manner, helping us solve problems that add value for our customers. Precision bore sizing and finishing is a very niche capability that requires significant engineering content and resultant product performance. Our customers value what we have to offer with our systems and our ability to solve their difficult bore sizing and finishing applications.”

Jacobsmeyer recalls that when the engineering team first looked into developing a new basic bore sizing and finishing system to fill a gap in the Sunnen product line, Siemens was the logical resource.

In regard to control system design, “We didn’t have anything at that point,” Jacobsmeyer says. “We heard from our customers and engineers in the field that there was a need for a basic economical system. However, we were not sure if we could satisfy the product requirements and meet the market price point.”

Mik agreed about the scope of the engineering problem. “Remember, this was August and September of last year,” Mik says. “So I started programming and put a prototype system together and the biggest issue I found was spindle response time, due to delays in signals between the display, PLC, and a servo and general purpose drive. We had 300 milliseconds altogether, which may be acceptable from the standpoint of introducing a basic system at a basic system cost, but it was unacceptable for our application, so we decided to go back to Siemens.”

This was in January, with production of the new basic system to occur in May or June, Mik explains. “That is when Siemens told me that they had this new Sinamics S110 basic performance servo drive coming out, along with their new MP177 six-inch touch display, which allows soft PLC capability with the WinAC MP software. The direct connection between Sinamics S110 servo drive and MP177 display over Profibus made the system very cost effective and responsive. Not only did this reduce components, but also made it possible for us to stay in line with our migration to a single platform on the Sinamics family of drives because we could use the same Step 7 software already being used to program our S7 automation on other machines.

According to Mik, the new basic servo positioning package gave Sunnen an unexpected level of performance for basic machine development.

“If you think about trying to stop an AC induction motor to do stroking back and forth, it’s pretty difficult. Even when applying dynamic braking and braking resistors, traditionally acceptable reversals on a tube-hone machine are around a quarter-inch repeatability. But our tests show the new system is achieving under 15/1,000 of an inch, and this is a low-cost system.”

Mik explained that the key components of the new system, are an easily programmable soft PLC at a low-cost point and a low-cost distributed motion control – solutions brought about by the new Siemens Sinamics S110 drive and 1FK7 servomotor. This also accomplished a new level of simplicity for this basic machine because the Drive-Cliq cable between the Sinamics S110 drive and motor provides automatic configuration as well as the feedback of the servo system. Additionally, the MP177 with WinAC software made the configuration and communication simple and straightforward.

“We have a color TFT display, we are programming everything with ease, and we can even automate the machine. It’s not in the original spec, but we could do this to add even more value to our offering. And spindle response time is down in the 25-millisecond range, instead of 300,” adds Mik. “For such a low-cost machine, I cannot believe we have such a capable system.”

Platforms for Growth

Mike Nikrant believes alignment between the Sunnen and Siemens product platforms is helping to drive Sunnen’s business forward. The decision to develop new, more basic systems was facilitated by the product range of Siemens Motion Control solutions. The two companies are already talking about performance improvements for Sunnen’s next generation of high-end PC-based systems with integrated safety functions.

“Siemens is coming out with motion control ideas that fit what we want to do,” Nikrant observes. “For our high-end PC line, we are trying to come up with a common circuit for multiple machines. Siemens drives, bus structures and components fit really well in that respect because of the way some of the logic can be split up as far as the controllers go. Their Sinamics drives are easy to use and highly configurable. The same piece of hardware can be used for multiple functions. Some systems can be configured to use any functionality the user can conceive. On other systems, where there is no need for all that functionality, a product like the Sinamics S110 servo system provides a simple and efficient solution. And control, programming and communication are all the same. The Siemens platform works well for us, for both the higher and entry level.” Jacobsmeyer adds, “Building upon common platforms from Siemens, which are stable and high performance, serves our customers and entire Sunnen organization quite well – around the globe, enabling us to more efficiently use our global resources to engineer, construct, service and sell product.”

According to Sunnen’s David Moehn, Manager of Engineered Machines and Custom Systems, the adoption of the Siemens Sinamics S110 servo drive is just part of the story for Sunnen.

“The bigger story is Siemens ability to work with us, standing with us and helping us find solutions,” Moehn says. “This relationship continues to improve our market success by getting us to market faster and ahead of competitors.”

Phil Hanna, Sunnen’s Global Product Manager for Machines agrees: “The goal of partnering with Siemens has been to standardize control systems across all of our machine platforms – horizontal, vertical, and tube hones of which the new HTA machine is the latest edition as an entry level market machine. This is part of an ongoing effort at Sunnen to produce modular designs that can easily be modified to new configurations. The SV machines are a perfect example of this concept. The modular columns with integral Siemens controls can be easily configured on a custom basis to optimize the customer’s process. One, two, three, etc. columns depend on the customer’s stock removal and geometry requirements. This lends great flexibility to the product line. And with component standardization and Siemens global presence, the machines are much more supportable globally because of Siemens technical expertise and resources.

See the Sunnen/Siemens video HERE.

For more information, contact:

Sunnen Products Company http://www.sunnen.com

For specific product information and inquiries, call (800) 879-8079 ext. Marketing Communications or send an e-mail to: SiemensMTBUMarCom.industry@siemens.com.

Siemens Industry Sector is the world’s leading supplier of innovative and environmentally friendly products, solutions and services for industrial customers. With end-to-end automation technology and industrial software, solid vertical-market expertise, and technology-based services, the sector enhances its customers’ productivity, efficiency and flexibility. With a global workforce of more than 100,000 employees, the Industry Sector comprises the Industry Automation, Drive Technologies and Customer Services Divisions as well as the Metals Technologies Business Unit. For more information, visit http://www.usa.siemens.com/industry.

The Siemens Drive Technologies Division is the world’s leading supplier of products, systems, applications, solutions and services for the entire drive train, with electrical and mechanical components. Drive Technologies serves all vertical markets in the production and process industries as well as the infrastructure/energy segment. With its products and solutions, the division enables its customers to achieve productivity, energy efficiency and reliability. For more information, visit http://www.usa.siemens.com/drivetechnologies.